A/N: Theme number seven - Tear-Stained Face.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS...uh. Well, make sure you're caught up pretty far in the FMA manga/anime otherwise you're screwed. And don't start spamming me going "WTF YOU JUST SPOILED IT FOR ME". I mentioned it in the author's note. Wait, do you people even read these things?

Put some slight Royai in there because I couldn't help it XD

Ling had never seen Lan Fan cry in Xing, not even once. Whatever the occasion, her face and eyes remained dry.

He had decided that he wanted to see Lan Fan cry, just once, before he died. He wanted to see his stony-faced guard lose some of her stiffness and have emotion. Back then, the wish seemed like one of the other wishes he had desired: travel to Creta, sample all of the food that had ever existed, become the emperor of Xing. It seemed like nothing more than a child's wish.

But when they came to Amestris, she had done a lot of crying. She had cried over the loss of her arm, the death of her grandfather, and when she had found out that he had become a homunculus.

Afterward, Ling wished that he had never seen her cry. He wished that she wouldn't cry anymore. And most of all, he hated himself for wanting to see her cry.

When she cried, his entire body felt like it had turned to ice. The sound of it was more painful than anything he had ever heard. Her face was no longer the delicate, beautiful features he had known all of his life but full of more pain than anyone should bear. He longed to see her stoic-yet-happy expression once more, rather than the thick tears that rolled down her cheeks.

But as they were traveling back to Xing, he remembered something else: On the day that Roy Mustang had been crowned Fuhrer and he had been married to his former lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, Lan Fan had had tears rolling down her eyes. "How weird," he wondered out loud.

"What is it, Young Master?" Lan Fan looked up from polishing her automail.

"Ah." He had not realized that he had spoken. "Well…it's nothing. Okay, actually it's not. I was wondering why you were crying when Mustang became Fuhrer and married the lieutenant."

Lan Fan paused for a while before answering. "No reason, really. I was just glad for them, that's all."

"Oh. You were really happy. I thought you were crying because you were sad or something."

"No." She gave him a slight smile. "Not everyone cries just because they're sad, you know."

"Yeah, I know." He nodded. "I know."

Lan Fan returned to rubbing her automail. He spoke again. "Hey, Lan Fan."

"What?"

"The only time I want to see your tear-stained face again is when you're happy."

She turned a light pink, but nodded. "I promise."

Words: 432

Additional Notes: Before you guys total spazz out thinking "HOLY CRAP RAINSTREAM WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING LAN FAN'S GONNA BURN AND DIE IN THE DESERT", Lan Fan and Ling are traveling back to Xing by sea. They only went the desert way in the beginning because they wanted to see the ruins of Xerxes, remember?

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